"I could not take my eyes from her face, which grew larger as she approached, like a sun which it was somehow possible to stare at and which was coming nearer and nearer, letting itself be seen at close quarters, dazzling you with its blaze of red and gold." -Marcel Proust.
From his first memory of watching his father strike a match and place its blooming flame on his birthday candle, Soma has loved fire. The glowing orange core, the intense red of the whole flame, and even the electric blue pulse of a gas range drew him in.
Soma embodied the flame in how his wild red hair naturally sprouted from his scalp—a telltale sign that he was Tamako Yukihira's son. It was why he rarely cut or combed it. He loved fireworks and glassblowing and erupting volcanoes. He enjoyed sweating in the kitchen over an open flame; it felt like purging sins. He hated the steams of frustration that would pipe through his ears every time he lost to his father in their countless cooking battle. When Nao Sadatsuka's TohSpo astrology column did a profile on his natal chart to predict his Fall Selection outcome, he found out that, even though he's a Scorpio sun, he had more fire placements than any other element. He had no clue what that meant, but it made total sense.
Watching his parents master it in the kitchen ignited his drive as a chef. They were firebenders, with his mother's reckless flick of the wrist whipping her wok and flipping blackening fried rice that made the flames lick the wide-set pan's edges and dance before her, and how the element seemed to obey his father's will while tossing a sizzling skillet. The element taught him the importance of balance between freedom and control. Fire taught him that the same energy used to create warmth and security can also burn down and destroy everything.
He loved fire so much that by the end of the Regimental de Cuisine, after defeating her wickedly misguided father and his unfortunate cronies at Central, with no one left but her standing by his side, Soma had an epiphany…
Before he met her, he had never considered that someone else could light his fire. His eyes were fixed on her like Icarus soaring.
Erina Nakiri was his sun. And Soma worshipped her.
So when he had reached the most elegant restaurant at the Moon Festival and barged in, ready to charm his way into a free gourmet meal.
"Yo, Nakiri!"
...Only to find her standing in the middle of the dining room trembling, eclipsed by fear and dread...
"Erina?"
A wildfire set ablaze within his heart.
This is the story of how Soma Yukihira fought for the love of his life to rise and shine again.
a/n: ahhh...i hope it wasn't too much of a tease to post this interlude, but i had to set the stage for the chapters to come. so, i hope you're buckling up because new chapters are dropping in rapid succession, which will be explained below. thank you for reading!
for my Comfort Food readership: it's been over a month, and i'm sure you're anticipating the next chapter. (TBH, so am I, lol) it was midterms szn, but besides that, the next chapter is taking its precious time unfolding, so I appreciate your patience. i plan to have it done before the end of the month, but don't hold me to it. (^.^) {that is, my innocent chibi)
overall, i've been doing a lot of creative writing, and some fun reading is on the horizon! thanks for hanging around!
p.s.: and as always, i love reading your comments, so pls leave a review, follow, favorite, and share this novel with someone in the fandom you think would enjoy reading it, too! you can also support my writing by subscribing to my shonen 'n spirituality substack, Sol no Shonen! the substack link is in my profile.
-You're Welcome!-
8.20withlove
-i do not own the rights to Shokugeki no Sōma, i know-
¯\_(ツ)_/¯